neighborhoodr-columbus:

Just after I finished the previous POST about the 23 new apartment developments in and around the downtown area, the Columbus Dispatch ANNOUNCED that Capital South Development Corp reached an agreement with Atlanta, GA based Carter to sell them 2 acres of land at Columbus Commons for $2Million, allowing Carter to pump a total of $50Million into 2 buildings that will house approximately 300 rental units and roughly 23,000 sq.ft. of retail space.

This kind of mixed use development has always been the 5-10yr plan (as announced in 2009) for the Commons - somewhere to live with close access to retail, employers and an array of recreational activities.  This Carter development is expected to be completed in 2014.

Image via www.dispatch.com

Columbus can’t get people to move downtown. Here’s what the article says the price range for these apartments will be:

Rents at the Columbus Commons apartments would range from about $960 per month for a 600-square-foot studio to about $2,500 for a 1,600-square-foot townhome, Taylor said. That’s similar to the $1.60 per-square-foot price seen in other high-end Columbus apartments, he said. 

$11,520 / year for a STUDIO apartment. I love downtown Columbus, and since I bike everywhere, living downtown would be superconvenient in terms of being bikable to everywhere. 

I make very a modest middle class income, but have big expenses (car payment, student loans). C makes a very, very small income (although also has less expenses). BUT we do not have children and our discretionary income is spent doing all the things downtown offers (concert venues, sports). We’re the type of people developers should be building for downtown. Because we’re not going to pop out some children and flee to the ‘burbs.